"It's a Wednesday in July, the weather's good and yet you can count the number of people on the sidewalk," said Véronique. She runs a furniture store in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and is apprehensive about the Olympic Games, which she believes could "quickly become a real obstacle" for her business. All the shopkeepers in her street are asking the same question: "Are there any Parisians left in Paris?" "There haven't been any Parisians for three weeks," declared Alain Fontaine, president of the Association Française des Maîtres Restaurateurs (French Association of Master Restaurateurs), on French radio Franceinfo on Sunday, July 21.
Business owners "have several theories" about this, according to Lisa, who manages a coffee shop in the Oberkampf district and finds the period "too quiet." The first culprit mentioned is the shift to remote work, which has reduced the number of customers. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, for a "majority of companies, this has become a standard practice" said Estelle, who works at a wine cellar in the 11th arrondissement.
"Then there was the Airbnb craze," she added. Estelle is joined by several of her counterparts who agree that many of their customers chose to rent out their Parisian accommodation to tourists for the duration of the Games, and so moved away from the capital.
Meanwhile, the Paris tourist board, based on a study carried out by Orange Fluxvision Tourisme, reports that there are "4% more Parisians compared to the same period in 2023 and 11% more than in 2022."
However, according to Fontaine, "the usual tourists are not coming to Paris, and those who are coming for the Olympic Games are arriving slowly." To make matters worse, since Thursday, July 18, traffic restrictions have been in place in the capital in anticipation of the Olympic opening ceremony on July 26.
As a result, "traffic in restricted areas has decreased by 60%, with some areas seeing a drop of 80%. Overall, it's down between 20% and 30% [in terms of footfall]," said Fontaine, whose own restaurant, Le Mesturet, is located in the city's center.
"Business has been at half-mast since June, with many professionals reporting a 30% drop in sales compared with previous years," several federations representing shopkeepers, restaurant operators, bars and clubs in Paris had already warned in a statement released on Friday, July 19.
A few days earlier, Frank Delvau, president of the Union des Métiers et des Industries de l'Hôtellerie Paris-Ile-de-France (Union of Hospitality Trades and Industries in Paris and Ile-de-France), told Le Monde that occupancy rates were "very low": For hotels, "15 points below last year's figures," and for restaurants "almost 20 points below."
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